Periodicals

Periodical publications were an important part of piping’s development in the 20th century. Magazines that chronicled the piping news and events of the day served a number of functions: they helped build an international community of pipers; they provided a forum in which the issues of the day could be debated; they enabled a growing industry to advertise their businesses directly to their target market; they recorded competition results; they introduced their readerships to piping traditions beyond the Highland piping tradition; and much more.

In 2020, the unprecedented financial uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted The National Piping Centre to make the difficult decision to cease publication of its two magazine titles: the Piping Times and Piping Today. While Piping Today was TNPC’s in-house magazine since 2002, the Piping Times, which had been published monthly since 1948, had been inherited in 2018 when the College of Piping was taken over by TNPC. 

The unparalleled  collection of information contained in these two publications’ archives led the TNPC to seek a way in which to both celebrate a formidable legacy, and make an invaluable resource more accessible. Once it was established that the British Library held a full collection of Piping Times, and offered a professional digitisation service, the TNPC launched a crowdfunding campaign which sought to raise the necessary funds to digitise the archives. The enormous success of the campaign, which exceeded its initial target, raising over £40,000, enabled digitisation of more publications held by the British Library. The addition of Piping and Dancing and the International Piper enhances the collection of publications, strengthening the resource further.